Peabody’s Roots:
YOUR
FAVORITE
PROFESSORS
ne hundred forty years ago, one of the most notorious men ever associated with Peabody met his demise at the age of 36 before a Honduran firing squad, the victim of his own burning ambition.
A lawyer, surgeon, newspaper editor, fili- buster, and slavery proponent, William Walker is today all but forgotten. During the mid-1800s, though, he was hailed across the United States as the “Gray-Eyed Man of Des- tiny” who would lead a young expansionist- minded nation in efforts to extend its bound- aries southward. Dime novelist Bret Harte used Walker as a model for one of his fictional heroes.
Walker was born in antebellum Nashville in 1824. His mother was a slaveholder. His father, a Scotch banker, wished for his oldest son to become a Presbyterian minister, and young William was trained to that end. His interests ran more toward medicine, howev- er, and while still a boy William enrolled at Peabody’s forerunner, the University of Nashville, which boasted a medical school that at one time was the third largest in America.
A child prodigy, Walker graduated from the University of Nashville at age 14, then went abroad, studying at the universities of Edinburgh, Gottingen, Heidelberg, and Paris.
Political revolution was brewing across the Continent, and Walker probably was influ- enced by what he saw there.
Upon his return to America, he practiced as a surgeon briefly in Nashville and Philadel- phia, then studied law in New Orleans, gaining admittance to the Louisiana bar. He purchased half interest in the New Orleans Crescent, writing impassioned columns, but the newspaper soon folded and his sweetheart died of yellow fever.
By 1852, lured by the California Gold Rush, Walker had landed in San Francisco and was editing the San Francisco Herald. The fol- lowing year he led an armed invasion of Baja California, Mexico, proclaiming himself pres- ident of the new independent republic of Sono- ra and Baja California. His supplies deplet- ed, however, he was forced to surrender.
Walker viewed establishment of a new slaveholding territory in Central America as a solution to disputes about slavery threat-
ening to divide the United States. When in 1854 the Liberal Party of Nicaragua enlisted his aid in fighting the opposition Conserva- tive party, Walker led an invasion. Bankrolling the expedition was industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt, who owned a transport compa- ny that took passengers from New York to San Francisco via the Nicaraguan jungle.
With only 57 men, the 5-foot-5, 120-pound Walker defeated the Nicaraguan forces. Believ- ing himself to be the fair-skinned “gray-eyed man of destiny” foretold in a Central Amer- ican Indian legend, Walker set himself up as president of Nicaragua and turned his ener- gies to uniting all of Central America under one empire—his. When he quarreled with Vanderbilt and appropriated Vanderbilt’s tran- sit company, though, Vanderbilt financed the forces that overthrew Walker in 1857.
Bowed but unbroken, Walker returned to widespread acclaim in his native country. Huge crowds turned out to hail him as a con- quering hero in New Orleans and New York.
In 1858 he returned briefly to Nashville, spending a week at his father’s home while he drummed up support and lectured on the curious topic of “The Progress
of the Arts.”
Within a few months, he was back in Central America. Several subsequent attempts at recaptur- ing Nicaragua failed. When Walk- er’s men sacked the British cus- tomhouse in Nicaragua, they were captured, their leader turned over to the Honduran government.
Walker spent three days in a rat-infested Honduran jail. Then, in a scene straight out of a spaghetti western, he was marched before a firing squad in the village square. One florid account of the day reported that it took three soldiers firing at 20 feet, and finally a sergeant with a pistol standing over Walker, to kill him.
One witness to the execution, accord- ing to family legend, was a young adventur- er named Antonio Gotto, great-grandfather of namesake Antonio Gotto, BA’57, MD’65 (Vanderbilt). Gotto, who is dean of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cor-
nell University, is married to the former Anita Safford, BS’59 (Peabody)—and was Vander- bilt’s distinguished alumnus for 2000.
In neighboring Costa Rica, where the war that Walker instigated spawned a cholera epi- demic that killed one-tenth of the population, the Costa Ricans erected a marble statue depict- ing the republic as a young woman with her foot upon the neck of Walker.
A year after Walker’s execution, the trouble that had long fomented over the issue of slavery erupted in the American Civil War.
A decade after the war ended, the famously parsimonious Cornelius Vanderbilt, in his final years, was persuaded to give over a mil- lion dollars for the building of a university from the ashes of the post- war South, thus begin- ning the long inter- twining histories of Vanderbilt
and Peabody.
—GayNelle Doll
Notorious alumnus William Walker, the “Gray-Eyed Man of Destiny”
TEN NES
SEE STATE
AR CH
IVES
William Walker:
The Man Who Would Be Emperor
O Contents
F E A T U R E S
Melding Science and Values 14
Peabody offers a practical new breed of interdisciplinary research training
Your Favorite Professors 17
REFLECTOR readers tell us about the Peabody profs who inspired, amused, and believed in them
Tug of War 24
Education can be equitable without neglecting America’s brightest kids
Thinking Big and Wide 28
Peabody College presents its Distinguished Alumni Award to two entrepreneurial educators
Cheers to You, John 31
John Murrell bids a fond farewell to Peabody College
D E P A R T M E N T S
Around the Mall 2
Alumni News 12
Class Notes 33
2000 Donor Report 39
Coming Attractions
inside back coverTHE PEABODY REFLECTOR is published biannually by George Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, Peabody Box 161, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203-5701, in cooperation with the Vanderbilt Office of Alumni Communications and Publications. The magazine is mailed free of charge to Peabody graduates of the last ten years, parents of current Peabody students, and to alumni and friends of Peabody who make an annual gift of $25 or more to the College.
Gifts should be mailed to the address above. Other correspondence, including letters to the editor and Class Notes submissions, should be mailed to: THE PEABODY REFLECTOR, Office of Alumni Communications and Publications, VU Station B 357703, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-7703. Comments about the magazine in the form of e-mail are welcome by writing the editor at [email protected].
Volume 70 No. 1 Spring 2001
Visit Peabody College’s World-Wide Web site at http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/
ON THE COVER:Peabody College’s tremendous faculty through the years is the root of Peabody’s strength today as one of the nation’s top colleges of education and human development. Our readers tell us about their favorites, beginning on page 17.
Camilla Persson Benbow,Dean
Clarence E. (Tres) Mullis III,Director of Development Phillip B. Tucker,Editor
Donna Pritchett, Art Director Amy Blackman, Designer
Camilla P. Benbow, Lew Harris, Julia Helgason, Princine Lewis, David Lubinski, Margaret W. Moore, Amy Pate, Jan Rosemergy, Ned Andrew Solomon, Contributors
Anthony J. Spence, Executive Director of Communications and Publications, Institutional Planning and Advancement
© 2001 Vanderbilt University
p. 24
?
Did you
GENERAL CONSENSUS
Thank you for the [article in] THE
PEABODYREFLECTOR(Summer 2000, “Project Set to ‘Achieve Dreams’,” p. 8).I was delighted to learn of the success of Project GRAD and remember fondly my visit with the students at Pearl-Cohn High School. I look forward to hearing of the continued success as Project GRAD works in partnership with Vanderbilt and the Nashville community to provide addi- tional kids with the opportunity to attend college and gain the needed resources for a successful future. Thanks again for keeping me up to date.
—COLINL. POWELL
General, U.S. Army (Ret.) U.S. Secretary of State Alexandria, Va.
CRITICAL REPORT A “BEST” IDEA? Although I graduated from Peabody long ago, I enjoy learning what is going on around campus through the REFLECTOR. However, I cannot keep silent about an article in the latest issue. I was absolutely aghast to see what was chosen by the distinguished panel convened to identify “The 20th Century’s Best and Worst Education Ideas” (Summer
2000, p. 22).I refer specifi- cally to their selection of the 1983 report A Nation
at Riskas a “best” idea, despite their characteriz- ing that vicious attack on
the public schools as
“flawed,” “bombastic,”
and “wrongheaded analytically,”
as well as admission that it was “flawed management more than inept schooling that was hampering U.S. trade efforts.”
The consequences of that report and the 1989 Charlottesville Summit can be seen today as high-stakes testing mania destroys learning in the schools, converting them to joyless test-cramming institutions permeat- ed by fear of the consequences for kids, teach- ers, administrators, and whole school systems if test scores do not meet expectations. One need only read Susan Ohanian’s One Size Fits Few: The Folly of Educational Standards (Heinemann, 1999) or Alfie Kohn’s recent pronouncements to see what a disaster this campaign of coercion has proved to be.
It is not necessary to accept the hypothesis that this is a conspiracy by the “mili- tary-industrial-infotainment complex”
to destroy the public schools, but it is plain to see the harmfulness of this top- down approach.
It will be interesting to see if you get other responses to your article. Incidentally, since 1961 I have edited a quarterly newsletter on developments in education, especially those related to the kind of progressive, integrative education known as “core curriculum.”
—GORDONF. VARS, EDD’58 Kent, Ohio
PROFESSORS TO REMEMBER
My sister, Barbara, and I were delighted to learn that our submission about our favorite Peabody professor would indeed be pub- lished (“Your Favorite Professors,” this issue, p. 17).We look forward with much pleasure to the spring issue of the REFLECTOR. THE
PEABODYREFLECTORis a warm link to a happy past. We hope you will receive many other tributes, and we will truly enjoy read- ing them. I started [attending Peabody] in the Nursery School, and during my many years at Peabody there were so many out- standing faculty members.
—ELAINEGOREAMIS, BA’52 Memphis, Tenn.
?
Did you know
Kennedy Center Expanding, Acting Director Named
Stephen M. Camarata, associate professor of hearing and speech sciences and associ- ate professor of special education, has been named acting director of the John F. Kennedy Center for Research and Human Develop- ment while the University searches for a per- manent director to lead an expanded and strengthened program, says Peabody Dean Camilla Benbow.
Camarata’s appointment follows the res- ignation of Travis Thompson, who led the Kennedy Center for nine years. Thompson is now the Smith Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Institute for Child Develop- ment at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
“We have every confidence that Dr. Cama- rata will provide strong leadership as we continue with our plans to position the Kennedy Center as a University-wide insti- tute,” says Benbow.
A committee with representatives of Peabody, Vanderbilt Medical Center, and the College of Arts and Science has been established to search for the successor to Thompson. The committee is co-chaired by Dan Reschly, chair of Peabody’s Depart- ment of Special Education, and Elaine Sanders- Bush, professor of pharmacology and psychiatry.
During the committee’s search, the Cen- ter will continue administratively as part of Peabody College, as it has since its estab- lishment in 1965. Once a new director is in place, however, he or she will report to the
provost and the vice chan- cellor for health affairs rather than the Peabody dean. The change in reporting struc- ture results from the Uni- versity’s plans to transition the Kennedy Center to a cam- pus-wide developmental dis- abilities research center.
“As a result of the expan- sion of the Kennedy Cen- ter’s research initiatives to include genetic, pharmaco- logical, and neurological facets of developmental dis- abilities, the Kennedy Cen- ter has outgrown Peabody College,” says Benbow. “As a University-wide center, it
will have greater access to resources and new investments that are being made in neuro- science and other areas. It also gives the Cen- ter an opportunity to grow and develop with the times.”
The Kennedy Center is one in a network of national centers for collaborative research, training, and information dissemination on behavioral, intellectual, and brain develop- ment. Last August the Center’s core grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development was renewed.
Camarata says he is glad to help Peabody and the Kennedy Center during this transi- tion until a permanent director is identified.
“However, we will certainly miss Travis Thompson, whose leadership during the past nine years has helped increase the Center’s recognition within the national research com-
munity,” he says.
In honor of Thompson’s many contributions to the Kennedy Center, a doctor- al research prize has been established in his name. The Travis Thompson Scholar prize will be awarded annu- ally to a graduate student conducting research on devel- opmental disabilities. Gifts to the fund that makes the prize possible may be sent to Elise McMillan, director of development, John F.
Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Peabody Box 40, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203-5701.
Travis Thompson, departing director of the Kennedy Center, accepts an apropos farewell gift at a reception held in his honor last August. The gift is a ceramic plate painted by Laura Craig McNellis, a celebrated self- taught artist with learning disabilities whose work has been featured in galleries around the world, as well as in several Kennedy Center art exhibits. Thompson, who is a fan of McNellis’s work, instituted the series of art exhibits in 1994 in conjunction with the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission.
HOD Fifth-Year Master’s Programs Created
Two new master’s degree options build on Peabody’s wildly popular undergraduate program in human and organizational devel- opment (HOD)—and each is designed to enable students to complete the program in just one year, if they so choose.
The master’s degree program in Organi- zational Leadership (OL) provides advanced study designed to prepare leaders for pri- vate-sector positions and leadership roles in nonprofit and government agencies. It con- tinues the course of study begun in the Lead- ership and Organizational Effectiveness track of the undergraduate HOD program.
The master’s program in Human, Orga- nizational, and Community Development (HOCD) is designed to prepare students for leadership in community improvement activities in such roles as community agency administrator, community development specialist, and program planning and eval- uation specialist. It continues the course Stephen Camarata has been appointed acting director of
the John F. Kennedy Center.
VANDERBILT NEWS SERVICE
?
Did you
?
Did you
PEYTON HOGE
feed B A C K
of study begun in the Community Devel- opment and Social Policy and Health and Human Services tracks of the undergrad- uate program.
Both master’s programs require 36 hours of course work, as well as some sort of prac- tical experience, similar to an internship.
Undergraduate HOD students who wish to pursue one of the two master’s programs as a fifth-year option would apply in the spring of their junior year. If accepted, they then may take up to six hours of master’s- level course work during their senior year, leaving only 30 graduate hours to complete during the next year—therefore saving them time and money.
“The master’s programs are organized so that students enrolled in both programs take
an initial spring graduate seminar together, as well as a common capstone course,” says Janet Eyler, associate professor of the prac- tice of education and director of the OL mas- ter’s program.
“Each program has a different focus, although students may choose electives that cross both departments. Essentially, the idea is for the student to develop more advanced organizational theory understanding and organizational analysis skills.”
Eyler says current students and alumni have shown great interest in the fledgling master’s programs, which got under way this academic year. While only a handful of students are now enrolled, a large num- ber have expressed interest in applying for next year.
For more information about the OL program, contact Eyler by e-mail at [email protected]. For informa- tion about the HOCD master’s program, contact Vera A. Chatman, professor of the practice of human and organizational devel- opment and director of the HOCD program, at [email protected].
Bransford Receives Top Psychology Honor
John D. Bransford, Centennial Professor of Psychology, professor of education, and co- director of Peabody’s Learning Technology Center, has been named the 2001 recipient of the American Psychological Association’s E.L. Thorndike Award.
V
anderbilt’s annual Kudos Awards pre- sentation during Parents’ Weekend last spring recognized the recipients of many Uni- versity scholarships, awards, and prizes, includ- ing several Peabody students:The Peabody Alumni Awardwent to Carolyn Denny, BS’00.The Peabody Alumni Associa- tion gives this award to a member of the grad- uating class who demonstrates outstanding qualities of scholarship and leadership.
The Willis D. Hawley Awardwent to Brooke Blackwell, BS’00.Established in 1989 in honor of the former professor and first dean of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, this award is presented by the students of Peabody to a senior who has exemplified in his or her career Peabody’s commitment to service.
TheJere Pinson Phillips Honor Scholarship went to senior Kathryn Greenslade.Established in 1994 by Alton W. Phillips, Warren Phillips, and Keith Phillips to honor Jere Phillips, wife and mother, this full-tuition scholarship is award- ed to a rising senior at Peabody College who has demonstrated extraordinary qualities of leadership and service.
The Nora C. Chaffin Scholarshipwent to junior Pamela Anne Ferguson.Established in 1956 by the Vanderbilt Women’s Student Government Association in appreciation of the former dean of women’s 20 years of service, this $2,500 award is given to a rising senior who “has dis- played service to the University in the areas
of student government, religious, literary and scholastic activity, and in the arts.”
The John T. and Lizzie Allen McGill Award went to two Peabody students: senior Everol Richardsand Kathleen Wilburn, BS’00.Estab- lished in 1994, the award and a $400 check are given to an upperclass student “who is acade- mically accomplished, has demonstrated qual- ities of leadership, and whose efforts have led to an increased understanding of other students’
needs and a more civil campus atmosphere.”
The Jim Robins Awardwent to James Strong, BS’00.This award is given in memory of James A. Robins, Vanderbilt Class of 1892, to “a Van- derbilt athlete of the senior class in whose life virtues are most evident.”
The Robert Peter Pratt Memorial Awardwent to Nicole Massie, BS’00.This award was estab- lished in 1991 to honor Robert Peter Pratt (1954–1991), former Vanderbilt associate direc- tor of undergraduate admissions. A $500 check is presented to a junior or senior Chancellor’s Scholar whose accomplishments best exempli- fy Pratt’s “commitment to diversity and unity, leadership and cooperation, warmth and open- ness, and unselfish service to others.”
The El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Award for Lead- ershipwent to Michael Calloway, BS’00.This award is presented to an African American stu- dent who has shown a tireless commitment to the projects, organizations, and events of the University during the given academic year.
Kudos Awards Honor Peabody Students The award, which is considered the most
prestigious in educational psychology, rec- ognizes Bransford for his career achievements in educational psychology research. He will be presented the award at the APA’s nation- al convention in San Francisco in August.
Internationally known for his research on cognition and learning and the appli- cations of technology to improve instruc- tional environments, Bransford is author or co-author of seven books. The most recent, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, resulted from a three-year initiative he co-chaired for the National Academy of Sciences. The book has received widespread acclaim and has become a resource for educators and edu- cation policy makers nationally.
Through his leadership and research in the Learning Technology Center, Bransford also has made significant contributions to educational psychology with award-winning multimedia products such as The Adven- tures of Jasper Woodburyand the Little Plan- et Literacy Series, both of which are used in classrooms around the world.
Previous recipients of the E.L. Thorndike Award include such distinguished psychol- ogists as Jean Piaget and B.F. Skinner. The
APA award honors Thorndike, who is rec- ognized as the father of educational psy- chology. He taught more than 40 years at Teachers College, Columbia University, and spent several summers on the faculty of George Peabody College for Teachers dur- ing its earliest days.
Project GRAD Granted $5.7M
Vanderbilt has received a five-year, $5.7 mil- lion federal grant to help underprivileged Nashville middle-school students go to college.
?
Did you
R E F L E C T O R 5
?
Did you
4 P E A B O D Y
?
Did you
tional Theory class gave Sat- urn team members a snap- shot of “Generation Y,” a key demographic for the com- pany’s marketing efforts. The largest and most cross-cul- tural generation in U.S. his- tory, the 78 million members of Generation Y—born between 1977 and 1994—
spent $64 billion of their own money in 1994 alone, accord- ing to the students’ research.
“Generation Y is here, and they want to drive,” said sophomore Tom Burns.
Divided into three teams focusing on consumer analysis, competitor analysis, and strategic marketing analysis, the students were commissioned by the automaker’s Competitive Benchmarking Team to “lift the veil” on Generation Y, said Batiste, an advanced doctoral student who has been a five-year Saturn team member herself in the supplier quality and develop- ment division.
Members of “Gen Y,” said the students, are characterized by technological savvy, environmental and community concern, and group behavior. They “wear what everyone else is wearing and do what everyone else is doing,” said junior Allison Brown, quoting a Finnish university study.
The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Edu- cation’s GEAR UP program, will allow the University to expand Project GRAD (Grad- uation Really Achieves Dreams), which works to prepare inner-city Nashville students for academic suc- cess beginning in pre-kinder- garten and continuing all the way through high school.
The cornerstone of Project GRAD is the guarantee of scholarship assistance to any student who graduates with a 2.5 grade point aver-
age from a high school participating in the program.
Project GRAD already provides teachers with resources and professional-develop- ment training in behavior management, read- ing/language arts instruction, and mathematics instruction. The program also involves par- ents and local community agencies to coor- dinate and expand family and student support services. The new grant allows for greater concentration of program efforts at the mid- dle-school level, thereby expanding the pro- gram into several additional Nashville schools.
Project GRAD is based on a successful Houston program and was initiated by former Peabody student Katie Dunwoody, who now is a senior in the College of Arts and Science, and her family. Marcy Singer Gabella, Vanderbilt assistant provost for ini- tiatives in education, is the program’s exec- utive director. She and Joe Cunningham, associate professor and chair of Peabody’s Department of Human and Organizational Development, were co-authors of the GEAR UP grant proposal.
GEAR UP, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergradu- ate Programs, awarded $45.6 million in grants nationwide last September, including the grant to Vanderbilt.
Saturn Corp. Learns from HOD Students
Human and organizational development stu- dents offered a cultural lesson last spring to key leaders from the Saturn automobile cor- poration who were interested in knowing what makes the students tick.
With a presentation backed by fast-paced music, home-shot video, and clips from recent films targeted to their age group, the stu- dents in Amy Batiste’s Advanced Organiza-
D E P A R T M E N T N O T E S
?
Did you
tor in Singapore, sponsored by the National Youth Council. On the same visit, she led a workshop for the Singapore International Foundation to help its staff design a training program for facil- itators of service-learning programs in Southeast Asia. In September, Eyler also gave the keynote address—titled “Where’s the Learning in Service- Learning?”—at Brigham Young University’s Con- ference on Service and Learning, sponsored by the Jacobsen Center for Service and Learning and Utah Campus Compact.
Psychology and Human Development
Camilla P. Benbow, Peabody College dean, pro- fessor of psychology, and Kennedy Center inves- tigator and senior fellow, has been invited to serve as a trustee on the board of the American Psy- chological Foundation from 2001 to 2004.
The APF is a philanthropic organization that pro- vides scholarships, grants, and awards in order to advance the science and the practice of psy- chology for the understanding of behavior and the benefit of human welfare.
Elaine Coonrod, a graduate student in psychol- ogy, has received a Merck Scholars Award. The award is presented to outstanding students in the John F. Kennedy Center’s Mental Retardation Training Program, in collaboration with the departments of special education and psycholo- gy and human development, to help them pre- pare for careers in which they will work with children with special needs and their families.
Judy Garber, professor of psychology and Kennedy Center investigator, has been award- ed two recent research grants by the Public Health Service: $240,451 for “Life-Span Devel- opment of Normal and Abnormal Behavior”
and $295,713 for “Treatment of Depression in Parents: Impact on Children.”
Susan Goldman, professor of psychology, is one of three editors of Narrative Com- prehension, Causality, and Coherence: Essays in Honor of Tom Trabasso,published recent- ly by Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, N.J. Gold- man also is co-editor of The Construction of Mental Representations During Reading,pub- lished by Erlbaum.
James W. Pellegrino, the Frank W. Mayborn Professor of Cognitive Studies, has been award- ed a $43,840 research grant by the Nation- al Academies of Science for “National Academies Agreement.”
Pellegrinogave the keynote address, “Connect- ing Learning Theory and Instruction: Principles, Practices, and Possibilities,” at the Internation- al Conference on Teaching and Learning With- in Vocational and Occupational Education and Training, held in Goettingen, Germany.
Jeanne M. Plas, associate professor of psychol- ogy, was honored at Vanderbilt’s fall Faculty Assembly for 25 years of service to the Univer- sity. She is author of Person-Centered Leader- ship: An American Approach to Participatory
R E F L E C T O R 5
John Bransford
DAVID CRENSHAW
D E P A R T M E N T N O T E S A substantial number of faculty members across the Peabody College community participated in leadership roles during the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting, held last spring in New Orleans.
Human and Organizational Development
Vera Stevens Chatman, professor of the practice of human and organizational development, served as co-director with Deborah German (associ- ate dean for students in the Vanderbilt School of Medicine) of the second annual Tennessee Gover- nor’s School for the Health Sciences, held on cam- pus last summer for high school students drawn from across Tennessee.
Joseph J. Cunningham, associate professor of human and organizational development and spe- cial education, has been named chair of the Depart- ment of Human and Organizational Development.
Cunningham has served in numerous faculty and administrative leadership roles since joining the Peabody faculty in 1969.
Gina Frieden, assistant professor of the practice of human and organizational development, has been awarded a $39,000 research grant by the Daughters of Charity for “Creed Stress Reduc- tion Program Evaluation.” Brian Griffithis co- principal investigator.
Craig Anne Heflinger, associate professor of human and organizational development, has been awarded a three-year, nearly $1.1 million research grant by the Department of Health and Human Services for “Special Adolescent Populations and Managed Care.” She also has been awarded a
$227,250 grant by the Public Health Service for
“Co-Occurring Drug and Mental Disorders in Youth.”
Leadership and Organizations
Jacob E. Adams Jr., associate professor of edu- cation and public policy, is author of a new book, Taking Charge of Curriculum: Teacher Networks and Curriculum Implementation,published by Teachers College Press, New York.
Adamsgave an invited lecture, “Educational Ade- quacy,” at the National Academies Millennium Conference on Achieving High Educational Stan- dards for All, held in Washington, D.C., last fall.
John M. Braxton, professor of education, par- ticipated with co-author Alan Bayer in an “author meets critic” session to discuss their book, Fac- ulty Misconduct in Collegiate Teaching,at the annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Soci- ety in New Orleans last fall.
Braxtonalso has been asked to serve as an exter- nal reviewer for the higher education program at Pennsylvania State University.
Janet Eyler, associate professor of the practice of education, presented the keynote address,
“Preparing World-Ready Youth,” last summer at the Service-Learning Seminar of the Youth Sec-
For the last two academic years, Peabody College’s incoming freshman classes have been the most selective and talented ever, in terms of both SAT scores and grade point averages. Incoming stu- dents have averaged an SAT score of 1232—the highest among Peabody’s peer insti- tutions—and their average overall grade point average has reached 3.41.
?
Did you know
Junior HOD student Richard Ellis explains to Saturn team members some marketing options that could appeal to Generation Y.
PHONETHIP M. LIU
S
tudent retention. The mere mention of it can glaze the eyes of even the most adroit university administrator. After all, the work of ensuring that students stay enrolled is an age-old challenge. For Ellen Brier, however, it’s a passion—and a prac- tical opportunity to put her research to the test.In the early 1990s Brier joined the fac- ulty of Peabody’s Department of Leader- ship and Organizations, where she remained until an injury and several rounds of spinal surgery put her life on hold. After more than three years of physical therapy, she returned to the Peabody campus in Janu- ary 1999 as director of student affairs and adjunct professor of education.
As director of student affairs, Brier brings to the job several years of research on stu- dent retention, one of her primary areas of concern at Peabody. She sees herself as the personification of the University’s com- mitment to students’ happiness and acad- emic success—which means it’s her job to make sure every student discovers his or her place at Vanderbilt. If students feel a real affiliation with the University, says Brier, chances are greater they’ll stay.
“I look especially at students in transi- tion—freshmen, transfer students, and oth- ers who are marginal for a variety of reasons—because they are at highest risk and are most vulnerable in their relation- ship with the University,” says Brier. “Typ- ically, students are lost at first in this large, unfamiliar culture. They can’t find their place. And it’s their social and academic inte- gration, their connected- ness to the University community, that contributes to their retention.
“While it’s not my goal to retain every student, it is my
goal to ensure that every student has the opportunity to find out whether or not Van- derbilt is the right fit for them. And there are simple ways in which we can reach out to them.”
One of those ways is, in fact, simple, but has yielded remarkable results. Once each fall and spring semester, Brier telephones each and every Peabody freshman—all 250 of them—
just to ask how they’re doing. Really.
She asks students how well they are
adjusting to Vanderbilt, how their classes are going, whether they are enjoying their course work, and how they’re being chal- lenged. She asks about the roommate expe- rience, life in the residence hall and, finally, what associations they have made with the University. Have they signed up for any activities? Are they involved in a campus organization?
And the timing of the calls, particular- ly in the fall, is deliberate. Brier calls the students between the fourth and sixth weeks of school, prior to midterm exams.
“By the fourth week, some of the hon- eymoon’s over, the work has started to kick in, students are feeling homesick, and they’re starting to look around and think every- body knows more than they do,” explains Brier. “At Peabody we deal with high achievers, and very often it’s more diffi- cult for them to reach out. They’re facing tremendous pressure.”
Student response to Brier’s calls is fre- quently astonishment—and always appre- ciation. Brier takes notes on each conversation, and when she contacts stu- dents again in the spring, she follows up on specific matters of importance to them.
Last year she expanded her initiative by adding sophomores to her call list.
“I’m genuinely concerned about them,”
says Brier. “Home-to-college is one of the most difficult transitions a person makes
in a lifetime. And I don’t let anyone else make these calls because I want to hear, in their voices and not just their words, what’s going on. I trust my instincts, and I pick up on a lot.”
After nearly two years of experience with her student-calling initiative, Brier has fine- tuned the process a bit to better identify students who may be struggling. She then is able to direct them to one of the many services offered by the University that may be of help.
“It’s a very proactive intervention,” says Brier. “My personal reward is in actually getting to know some students. And what they remember is that the woman in the dean’s office called me, and I can go there for help. There’s someone there who can help me when I don’t know where to go.”
Not only have students and faculty mem- bers taken notice of Brier’s efforts, but so have parents—sometimes with humorous consequences. Last year Brier received a call from the concerned mother of a stu- dent Brier had phoned the week before.
“She said, ‘John told me you called him to see how he was doing, and he insisted it wasn’t because he’s in some kind of trou- ble, but I have to know: Ishe in trouble?’”
laughs Brier. “When I told her that he was not in trouble, she asked, ‘You mean you really didcall him just to see how he’s doing?’
She had a tough time believing me.”
Believe it or not, Brier’s work, along with important efforts of the entire Peabody community, seems to be paying off. Of the 239 students who matriculated as fresh- men at Peabody in the fall of 1999, all but 13 returned in the fall of 2000—an impres- sive retention rate of 95 percent, and an improvement over previous years.
Brier’s work is informed in part by a body of research on retention that she has helped to shape as a scholar. Now that her career has shifted, she finds herself in the role of practitioner.
“Very few people who have had acade- mic careers get the opportunity to actual- ly test their own work and apply it,” she says. “I’m now able to bring together a variety of pieces from my past, and there’s no question that the effort is really mak- ing a difference. That’s a wonderful posi- tion to be in!”
—Phillip B. Tucker
Ellen Brier’s Special Calling
Peabody dean’s office is reaching out and touching students
DAVID CRENSHAW
Ellen Brier, director of Peabody student affairs, telephones all freshmen twice a year to ask how they’re doing.
?
Did you
?
Did you
?
Did you
The student strategic marketing group translated the characteristics of Gen Y into how car companies market to them. The group analyzed the appeal of
various Saturn television ads, test drove Saturn competitors, and developed a list of “must have” options for Gen-Y mem- bers, including air condition- ing, MP3/CD player, up- gradeable technology port, and extensive storage.
“We thought if Jansport made a car, we’d definitely
buy it,” said senior Boyd Christian, refer- ring to the popular backpack manufactur- er. “We’re not the cupholder generation anymore.” Students also outlined promo- tional ideas and suggested the automaker update its friendly and honest advertising style with a bold, independent edge.
“The Saturn project not only gave the stu- dents a chance to link theory and practice, but it allowed them to meet a real business need,” says instructor Amy Batiste. “They were challenged by the opportunity to deal with a real client—from contracting the work to the delivery of a tangible product.”
Lubinski Wins Prize for
“Positive Psychology”
David Lubinski, associate professor of psy- chology and an investigator and fellow in the John F. Kennedy Center, is one of four researchers nationally to receive an inau- gural John Marks Templeton Positive Psy- chology Prize from the American Psychological Association.
Recognized for his research on talent development among intellectually preco- cious youth, Lubinski received a $20,000 cash award that will go toward continuance of his research. He is co-director (with Peabody Dean Camil- la Benbow) of a 50-year lon- gitudinal study, now in its third decade, that is tracking more than 5,000 mathemat- ically and verbally precocious students and the impact of various educational inter- ventions upon their development. (See fea- ture article “Tug of War,” p. 24.)
Lubinski advocates the need for increased enrichment opportunities for gifted stu- dents in schools. “We need to cultivate these children more than we have,” he said. “They have a tremendous amount to contribute, and doing little for
them is a recipe for u n d e r a c h i e v e - ment.”
Each of the four recipients of this year’s Tem- pleton Prize is con- sidered a path- finder in the fledg- ling “positive psy- chology” move-
ment, which supports research that culti- vates and builds on human strengths rather than focusing on the negative aspects of human emotion. The prize is highly com- petitive and is financed by the Templeton Foundation of Philadelphia.
D E P A R T M E N T N O T E S Management(Sage, 1996), and she is co-author (with Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey) of Working Up a Storm: Anger, Anxiety, Joy, and Tears on the Job(W.W. Norton, 1988), which received national attention for its willingness to examine strong emotions in the workplace.
Ellen E. Pinderhughes, research assistant pro- fessor of psychology and Kennedy Center inves- tigator and fellow, has been awarded a $1.55 million research grant by the Public Health Service for “Multi-Site Prevention of Adolescent Problem Behaviors.”
John J. Rieser, professor of psychology and Kennedy Center senior fellow, made an invited presentation last summer for the Attention and Performance XIX meeting at the University of Munich, Germany.
Special Education
Last June the Office of Special Education Pro- jects at Peabody held a Leadership Project Direc- tors’ Conference in Washington, D.C. Vanderbilt participants included Georgine Pion, research associate professor of psychology and human development; Deborah Smith, research profes- sor of special education and director of the Al- liance Project; and Naomi Tyler, research assistant professor of special education. They took part in making three presentations. Following the leadership conference was a Research Project Directors’ Conference, chaired by Doug Fuchs, professor of special education. Craig Kennedy, associate professor of special education, gave a presentation on functional assessment.
Stephanie Al Otaiba, research assistant profes- sor of special education, was awarded the 1999 American Educational Research Association’s Division C Research Award for her paper “Char- acteristics of Children Who Are Unresponsive to Early Literacy Intervention,” which was co-writ- ten by professors Doug Fuchsand Lynn Fuchs when Al Otaiba was still a Peabody doctoral stu- dent. The award was presented in New Orleans last spring at the annual AERA conference, where Al Otaiba also presented her paper.
Doug H. Fuchs, professor of special education and co-director of the Kennedy Center Research Pro- gram on Learning Accommodations for Individ- uals with Special Needs, has been awarded a
$180,000 research grant by the U.S. Department of Education for “Providing a Solid Foundation for Preschoolers with Disabilities to Learn to Read.”
Lynn S. Fuchsis co-principal investigator.
Doug Fuchshas been appointed to the edi- torial board of Contemporary Educational Psychology.
Lynn S. Fuchs, professor of special education and co-director of the Kennedy Center Research Pro- gram on Learning Accommodations for Indi- viduals with Special Needs, has been awarded several recent research grants by the U.S. Depart- ment of Education: $89,930 for “Gauging Out- comes to Accelerate Learning and Success: GOALS for Students with Disabilities; $700,000 for “Cen-
PEYTON HOGE
A Call for World Peace
Dwight Allen, eminent professor of edu- cation reform at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, hosts a discussion on
“Education for World Peace” at Peabody last October. Allen is author of the book Schools for a New Centuryand is co-founder of PRIME, a long-term project to restruc- ture Norfolk’s inner-city schools. His visit was one of several Vanderbilt-sponsored lec- tures held in conjunction with Symposium 2000, a 16-day series of worldwide events celebrating the 125th anniversary of Albert Schweitzer’s birth and the 250th anniver- sary of J.S. Bach’s death. Symposium 2000 focused on “world peace through reverence for life.”
PEYTON HOGE
Peabody College is the only top-ranked college of education in the coun- try that offers bothunder- graduate and graduate programs in education and human development.
?
Did you know
David Lubinski
means shaking almost as many hands, which I have been privileged to do,” said Wyatt.
“Now I shall venture forth to life after Van- derbilt. And, like you, I do so with a mix- ture of pride, exhilaration, and reflection.”
Wyatt now is a senior research fellow in the Department of Leadership and Orga- nizations at Peabody, which awarded a total of 480 degrees that day—276 at the under- graduate ceremony on Vanderbilt’s Alumni Lawn and 204 at the graduate-degree cer- emony on the Peabody campus.
During the undergraduate ceremony, which was attended by a crowd of about 15,000 people, Wyatt and Peabody College Dean Camilla Benbow presented the 2000 Peabody Founder’s Medalist to Steven Craig DeCaluwe of Chicago. DeCaluwe graduat- ed summa cum laude with a double major in elementary education and mathematics.
As a student he worked with Habitat for Humanity and Vanderbilt Student Volun- teers for Science, which sends student teach- ers into Nashville public schools to talk about science. He also was a disk jockey on the campus radio station, WRVU, and a student instructor for rock climbing, caving, white- water paddling, and other wilderness skills.
At the graduate student ceremony, Dean Benbow welcomed graduates and guests by reminding them about financier George Peabody’s 1867 gift of $2 million that estab- lished the fund with which Peabody College was founded. His gift was, at that time, the largest gift to education in history.
“Peabody College rose to the challenge of providing education for all—the humble as well as the elite, women as well as men,”
Benbow said. “Teachers and administrators went out from the College to design, build, and strengthen the public school system.
They also formed the nucleus of the educa-
D E P A R T M E N T N O T E S ter to Accelerate Student Learning” (CASL);
$180,000 for “Curriculum-Based Measurement with Diagnostic Analysis to Improve Reading Outcomes for Students with Disabilities”; $200,000 for “MAPS”; and $180,000 for “Project IMPACT.”
Doug H. Fuchsis co-principal investigator for each of these grants.
Lynn Fuchshas been appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Educational Psychology.
Doug Fuchsand Lynn Fuchsare among 172 indi- viduals selected as “Influential Persons in the Development of the Field of Special Education”
in the November/December 2000 issue of Reme- dial and Special Education.They are noted for their contributions to research on educational interventions, including curriculum-based mea- sures and empirically validated approaches, and advocacy for research’s role in inclusion issues.
Also included was Lloyd Dunn, former Peabody coordinator of special education, who served on the faculty from 1953 to 1968 and was the first director of the Kennedy Center’s Institute on Mental Retardation and Intellectual Development.
The list also includes individuals of the stature of Helen Keller, Jean Piaget, and John F. Kennedy.
Doug Fuchsand Lynn Fuchs were honored last fall by the Peabody Alumni Association as the Distinguished Faculty Scholars for 2000. The Fuchses, who are especially known for their work to meet the needs of diverse learners within a sin- gle classroom, presented the third annual Dis- tinguished Scholar Lecture at the October meeting of the Alumni Association Board of Directors.
Ann P. Kaiser, professor of special education, has been awarded three recent research grants:
$200,000 by the U.S. Department of Educa- tion for “Leadership Training in ECSE”; $581,312 by the Public Health Service for “Preventing Prob- lems in Children’s Social Behavior”; and $199,997 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for “Early Identification and Prevention of Conduct Disorder in Head Start Children.”
Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and a Kennedy Center fellow, has been appoint- ed associate editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysisfor a three-year term. The pub- lication, now in its 33rd year, is the primary jour- nal for behavioral research relating to people with developmental disabilities.
Cathy (Huaqing) Qi, a doctoral student in spe- cial education, has received a Head Start Research Scholars Grant, which provides two years of funding for dissertation research on the class- room behavior of preschoolers with language and behavior problems. Qi’s proposal was one of 10 funded nationally.
Daniel J. Reschly, department chair and pro- fessor of education, has been named chair of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Committee on Disability Determination in Mental Retardation. The committee, estab- lished by a congressional appropriation, will examine procedures and criteria for determining Social Security system eligibility in mental retar-
R E F L E C T O R 9
?
Did you
8 P E A B O D Y
?
Did you
tion faculties in colleges and universities throughout the region.”
More than 29,000 Peabody alumni have since followed this tradition.
Award-winning Professor Elizabeth Gold- man, who had been on the Peabody College faculty since 1968 and served as both a Peabody associate dean and associate provost for academic affairs for the University, retired in 2000 and was honored by Benbow at com- mencement with the “emerita” designation.
Benbow also presented the 2000 Distin- guished Alumni Award to Imogene Forte, BS’55, MA’60, and, posthumously, to Logan Wright, MA’62, PhD’64. (See “Thinking Big and Wide,”
p. 28, for a closer look at the lives of these two outstanding Peabody alumni.)
Before degrees were conferred, the com- mencement address was delivered by Dale Farran, professor of education and director of the John F. Kennedy Center’s Susan Gray School for Children, who challenged grad- uates with the idea that, in an age of unprece- dented affluence and therefore unprecedented options, the many life choices one faces today add to a sense of stress.
“Having some habitual practices is real- ly helpful,” said Farran. “They free up men- tal energy for other ideas, for time actually to attend to the people around us, to listen to them and appreciate them.”
The day’s events ended with a reception for graduates and their friends and families, as well as induction ceremonies for the newest members of the Peabody Pioneers—alumni who graduated 50 years or more ago. Sev- eral members of the Class of 1950 were in attendance for the induction.
Susan Gray School Open to All Children
The John F. Kennedy Center’s Susan Gray School for Children has expanded its ser- vices to become a model program for inclu- sive early childhood education research and demonstration.
In the past, while the School’s enrollment has been open to children with develop- mental delays from the entire Nashville com- munity, enrollment of children without disabilities was limited to the children of Vanderbilt faculty, staff, or students. Now, for the first time, enrollment of typically developing children is open to the entire Nashville community.
Several important initiatives made this possible. First, the staff sought and received a separate license for the School from the state Department of Human Services as a
“stand-alone” child-care facility. Next, teach- ing positions were redefined and organized
D E P A R T M E N T N O T E S
?
Did you
dation for children and adults.
Teris K. Schery, research professor of special edu- cation and hearing and speech sciences, has been awarded a $276,735 research grant by the U.S.
Department of Education for “Multidisciplinary Personnel Training for Work with Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants in Rural Settings.” Anne Marie Tharpeis co-principal investigator.
Joseph H. Wehby, assistant professor of special education and a Kennedy Center fellow, has been awarded two recent research grants by the U.S.
Department of Education: $220,274 for “Lead- ership Training in Learning Disabilities” and
$180,000 for “Project CLASS.”
Teaching and Learning
Linda Barron, research associate professor of mathematics education, was honored at Van- derbilt’s fall Faculty Assembly for 25 years of ser- vice to the University. She teaches mathematics content and methods courses for early childhood and elementary education majors, and she is direc- tor of undergraduate studies for the Department of Teaching and Learning.
David Bloome, professor of education, has been elected vice president of the National Council of Teachers of English.
John D. Bransford, professor of education, Cen- tennial Professor of Psychology, and director of the Learning Technology Center, gave an address on “How People Learn” for the National Acad-
College Awards 480 Degrees in 2000
Former Vanderbilt Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt congratulated more than 2,800 graduates of the Class of 2000 in commencement cer- emonies last May and added that he was also “graduating” as he delivered his 18th and final farewell speech. He retired as Van- derbilt’s chief executive four months later.
“I’ve had the privilege of conferring more than 45,000 degrees at Vanderbilt, which
?
Did you
Steven Craig DeCaluwe, who graduated summa cum laude with a double major in elementary education and mathematics, receives the 2000 Peabody Founder’s Medal for highest honors from Dean Camilla Benbow.
PEYTON HOGE
A
lumni of Peabody College who were students in April of 1980 will remem- ber the burial of a time capsule that was to be exhumed in 2000. Containing most- ly letters written by Peabody students, faculty, staff, and friends, the capsule was buried in a six-foot-deep hole in front of the Social Religious Building (now the Wyatt Center) to mark the end of the first full academic year following the 1979 merger of Peabody and Vanderbilt Uni- versity. Last year, calls from a few Peabody alumni who recalled the occasion prompt- ed a full-fledged investigative search for the capsule’s whereabouts—with dis- appointing results. Apparently, the time capsule was uncovered just four years ago during an excavation project. But the cylinder and its contents had been so badly damaged by the elements through the years that the work crew was unable to identify its odd-looking discovery and, unfortunately, disposed of it.CHARLES WANG/VU PHOTO ARCHIVES
Lore Camialani Arakawa Rodriguez wears a traditional Hawaiian lei headpiece for com- mencement ceremonies. Rodriguez, who earned her master of education degree in special education, is from Kaneohe, Hawaii.
D E P A R T M E N T N O T E S
What Happened to the Time Capsule?
JASON LEVKULICH
